Bush Signs Tax-break Bills To Return $300 Million Plus

June 3, 2000|By LINDA KLEINDIENST and DAVID COX Tallahassee Bureau

TALLAHASSEE — More than $300 million in tax breaks, including a nine-day back-to-school sales tax holiday and a reduction in the state tax on investments, were signed into law on Friday by Gov. Jeb Bush.

"The governor obviously feels that with the continued prosperous economy in Florida parents especially deserve this tax break," said Leo DiBenigno, a Bush spokesman. "It comes at a perfect time of year, after summer camps and vacations are over and before school starts."

Bush on Friday signed 23 bills that range from the regulation of smoking areas in restaurants to a child protection measure that allows parents to abandon their newborn babies at certain locations without fear of arrest.

The measures that will become law include:

Abandoned Babies -- Mothers can anonymously leave babies younger than 3 days old at fire stations and hospital emergency rooms without fear of prosecution.

Intangibles Tax Break -- The rate of taxation drops from $1.50 to $1 per $1,000 on savings and investments, like stocks and bonds.

Sales Tax Holiday -- From 12:01 a.m. on July 29 through midnight on Aug. 6, shoppers will not have to pay state or local sales tax on clothing and related accessories like backpacks, handbags and wallets that are valued at $100 or less.

School Funding -- A 15-member task force made up of business and community leaders will hold five public hearings around the state and then make recommendations on how the state can best pay for public schools.

Smoking in Restaurants -- By Oct. 1, restaurants will be allowed to set aside no more than half of their seats for smokers. That will shrink to 35 percent on Oct. 1, 2001.

Spring Training -- To stop Florida teams from being wooed away by Southwestern states, communities with public stadiums that need rebuilding or renovation can apply for up to $500,000 a year in tax breaks to help them.

The two tax bills signed on Friday make up the lion's share of $500 million in tax breaks pushed by Bush and House leaders this year. The sales tax holiday will result in $41.2 million in state and local taxes not collected. The state will lose out on $35.5 million, local governments nearly $6 million.

"Tax cuts are the gas for the engine that drives our economy," said Katie Baur, a spokeswoman for House Speaker John Thrasher, R-Orange Park. "Study after study shows that lower tax rates equate with economic success."

The cut in the intangibles tax is expected to save investors and businesses about $279 million a year.

Efforts to pass the abandoned-baby bill heightened after six infants were abandoned in various parts of the state over a six-week period earlier this spring, some within hours of being born.

And after years of fighting each other, this was the year the state's powerful restaurant lobby and health groups came together to make all restaurants reduce their smoking areas to 35 percent of seating capacity by fall 2001.